


Contrast

by Puddor



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ensemble Cast, Half-Vampires, Multi, Slow Burn, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-28 21:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puddor/pseuds/Puddor
Summary: Black and white, life and death, human and monster. Our world is made up of opposites, of contrasts. But what about those who aren't either -- who live in the border world of grey? As Riku & Cloud encounter them and those in the darkness, the world as they know it begins to unravel...





	1. Salted Butter Caramels

**Chapter One: Salted Butter Caramels**

 

“Why the _fuck_ am I wearing shorts?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“No. I know why. I woke up in a _fucking good mood._ Fuckin’ good moods. I dress like a fuckin’ seven-year-old when I’m in a good mood, I have a half a mind to throw these stupid pieces of clothing out-“

“We both know you wouldn’t do that. Next good mood would be completely ruined by you bawling and ringing me up with ‘WHY DID I THROW OUT MY FAVOURITE SHORTS RIKU’. No thanks, Sor, don’t wanna hear it.”

His brunette companion snorted angrily, but he knew he was right. At least he’d picked out a black pair that came down below his knees a decent amount; he had a red set that kinda looked like he was strutting around in two bright crimson pumpkins.

Riku resisted snorting in laughter at the mental image, knowing it’d probably get him punched in his friend’s current mood. Hard.

Sora was…for the lack of a better term, a complete clusterfuck of issues.

He liked to freak people out with that fact, so it wasn’t like it was uncommon information. His mood would swing violently between cheerful and upbeat and violently temperamental, almost like there were two of him. The thing was that he didn’t forget any of his escapades; he just couldn’t reason why he’d do a particular thing on the other side of the mood swing. For example, he’d had this very same conversation with him not all that long ago, except reversed; he’d been pouting about the fact he was wearing a tight pair of black skinnies and his nads were being crushed, whining about how he should’ve put on his favourite shorts on that morning. But he’d had a nightmare and woken up in a terrible mood, so he’d decided his poor family jewels needed a good mincing.

Riku had grown up with him, so he was used to the dramatic swings. It kept him on his toes, kept his life interesting. Normally it was ok to deal with, but when he was a bit younger he’d have difficulty coming out of the darker moods.

High school had come around, and he’d sworn of the permanent dark mood, ditching his given name in favour of Sora and its meaning- sky. Riku still remembered that night, the brunet both angry and tearful as he raved about being sick of wallowing in the dark. Riku had sworn to help him in any way he could, thick as thieves til the end, and thus the grounded, level-headed half of the two became something akin to a retainer for the unstable kid. He took it upon himself to shake out Sora’s dark moods and keep him out of trouble, and the circumstances just served to make their relationship stronger. Riku had to learn to understand both sides of Sora’s ever-swinging mood set; the happy-go-lucky cheerful teen who loved sweets, and the violent and temperamental sadist who liked to kick puppies (preventing that from occurring was one of Riku’s many ‘retainer duties’, since the moment Sora wasn’t in a pissy mood he’d start bawling about hurting the animal). There was probably no one out there who knew Sora better than Riku did; it could basically be summed up in that Riku was and would always be the only one permitted to use Sora’s given name as a means of scolding him. Anyone else attempted it, and they’d be nursing a broken jaw _if they were lucky._

That was where they found themselves that Thursday afternoon, Sora puffing on a cigarette in an effort to calm the hell down and not continue to rant about his _balloon pants._ They were out the back of the school near the end of lunch; the first warning bell had already rung, but Riku and Sora weren’t going anywhere while Sora still wanted to rip his own clothing off and strut about the school yard naked, public decency be damned.

“Just try and talk some frickin’ sense into me about these things, man,” he muttered, shaking his leg. “I feel like I’m swimming in my own clothing.”

“You like the breeze,” said Riku, blowing a smoke ring. He smoked socially with Sora so his best friend didn’t feel ridiculous once his mood eased up, but that was all. Good-mood Sora actually hated the cigarettes, but if he was in a dark mood for long enough he’d start smoking like some kind of spiky-haired chimney.

“Screw the breeze,” he muttered, flicking some ash before taking in a deep breath. Riku knew his mood was going to ease up pretty soon- he already looked less infuriated in the pants.

His nose twitched a bit, before he dropped the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.

“Y’know what, Riku, you’re right. The breeze is great,” he said, thumbing his nose. “Forgot that was why I put them on this morning. We’d better get to class.”

Riku smirked, dropping his own cigarette and putting it out before following his shorter friend through the school yard.

The other students avoided Sora like the plague, and for good reason. It was nigh-impossible to tell what kind of mood he was in. There was no physical evidence; just because Sora had worn shorts didn’t mean he wouldn’t cuss and scream like a banshee and threaten your mother.

He’d never actually hurt anyone at school. His temper was just…infamous.

They pulled their stuff out of their lockers and meandered into their classroom; the bell had rung only a few minutes ago. Sora and Riku took the back corner; nobody wanted to occupy the seat Sora usually took, and Riku was his ‘retainer’. The class had been chatting loudly until the two had walked in- now they’d quieted a bit, most likely scared of pissing Sora off.

“You know, I had wanted to avoid being the scary-ass mofo in high school,” Sora admitted glumly. “I didn’t do so well, did I?”

“You told that one kid you were going to stick your hand down his throat and rip out his intenstines, then hang his dog with them.”

“Oh come on. It’s not like I could actually do that. There’s too many organs in the way, I’d have to go in the back and that’s just gross-“

“They don’t know that,” Riku said with a shrug, pulling out a pack of melon caramels and handing one to Sora before eating one himself.

“Do you have any salted butter caramel?” Sora asked, though he still ate the melon one.

“Giving them to you while you’re in a good mood would destroy their effectiveness, Sor,” said Riku, patting the brunet’s spiky mess.

“So I just have to get into a bad mood, then you’ll give me the salted caramels?”

Riku rolled his eyes and ignored the comment, the familiar _clack clack_ of their teacher’s heels echoing from outside the classroom door. The door swung open to reveal their teacher; a middle-aged woman with brown hair, neatly down up in a bun behind her head. She was average in height and a little plump, most of her perceived beauty being derived from the make-up she wore. Still, she wasn’t an eyesore, and her eyes still had the warmth and consideration it took to be a decent teacher. Riku knew all too well from his other educational experiences that the jaded, bitter teachers were the worst ones to be around; the ones in the middle, the ones who had gotten over the stage where the students walked all over them, they were the ones who had his respect. Even if he was only just scraping by in his classes.

“Good afternoon, class,” she said, placing a thick manilla folder onto her desk. “I have a few announcements before we’ll return to our reading of _Hamlet._ I trust you all annotated our last chapter- remember, pencil, not pen, unless you intend on keeping the book once you finish school.”

There was a small chorus of chuckles and grumbles; Riku knew that at least four students had used pen despite the teacher telling them to use pencil. Pencil could be rubbed out- pen could not. Suffice to say, those who ignore the teacher’s instructions were also the ones who would’ve liked to sell their school books, so it was their own silly loss in the end.

“Ok. That time of year has come around again, and our school will be hosting several student teachers to show them the ropes. They will be overseeing your classes while I monitor them from the back row.”

Sora started muttering cursewords under his breath, and Riku, almost by force of habit, instantly had whipped out his box of Morinaga Salted Butter Caramels, passing one across the desk. Sora immediately ate it, chewing with a bit more aggression than what was necessary, but the scowl on his face eased up.

“I expect you all to be on your best behaviour when they arrive. We will still be watching, and acting like brats will earn you automatic detentions, is that clear?”

Sora raised his hand, and Riku resisted the urge to grumble to himself. He knew exactly what this was going to be about. He kept his hand near the salted caramels, ready to go into damage control if necessary. This was Sora’s touchiest issue, and if not handled well it could result in some severe temper tantrums.

“Yes, Sora?” the teacher said, a knowing glint in her eye.

“They’ve been told about my name preference, right?” Sora stated, surprisingly calm.

“It’s written on the roll call. Feel free to correct them if they don’t use Sora, just keep it civil.”

“Fine,” Sora said, his tone a little sharp as he folded his arms. Riku exhaled, dreading the student teacher’s arrival; some were ok, but there were those who insisted on being ‘harsh’ during their first teaching role, and he’d found that a few refused to use nicknames. Sora had grown quite attached to his name and what it represented, and he’d always had an innate loathing of his real name once they studied it in an etymology lesson. If a teacher ended up telling him he couldn’t go by Sora, the brunet would probably just walk out of the classroom. If everyone was wearing lucky items or something. God forbid they try to call him back, too.

The announcement over, the teacher proceeded to start the lesson. One student was given the task of reading out loud, while the other students took notes and made discussion over the lines. Everyone’s annotations were different, so buying a second-hand book with the notes already written was out of the question. Sora and Riku usually shared and compared their notes, trying to get as much work done during lessons as they could. Neither of them had time for homework beyond school, which was why they were both scraping by on precarious Cs. They got Bs in sport and occasionally in English, but that was as high as their marks went. After-school duties prevented anything higher, really.

Sora particularly enjoyed Hamlet, and had already started scribbling notes and discussion in his book. Most pages were annotated, including a few in red he’d adapted from Riku’s notes. They both had different thinking processes, it was part of the reason they were such good friends- they were able to bounce solutions and ideas off of each other nearly infinitely, making them an extremely resourceful team. Unfortunately it meant they didn’t work well when put into other pairs or groups without the other. Riku could cope, since he had a natural leader instinct and was able to allocate work effectively, but Sora tended to just get grumpy with the set-up and do all the work himself, or he’d slack off the entire time. He did not work well in groups. On his own, or with Riku- the teachers had learnt that fact the hard way.

Riku also pulled out his Hamlet book as the class began to debate a certain passage and its meaning, his ball-point black pen scribbling down shorthand notes on the conversation. He dog-earred his book and wrote in pen, since didn’t mind not being able to sell it, and the dog-ears meant less leafing through pages to find where they were up to. Riku didn’t see himself as a person with a lot of time on his hands, so the less time he spent doing mundane things, the more time he had for other aspects, like the note writing.

Their English class and the rest of the day went by smoothly. Sora didn’t have any mishaps (they were actually pretty rare, he’d been dealing with it long enough to have some control) which meant Riku could go the rest of the school day saying less than twenty words. Riku was never particularly talkative- didn’t need to be, he had Sora to blab on until people’s ears bled and their minds were reduced to a greyish putty only capable of processing what flavours of Morinaga caramel Sora enjoyed. Riku kept his thoughts to himself, and besides that, he struggled to have an active conversation with a regular person. He just didn’t have the common ground; while others could talk about their sport picks or the like, Riku didn’t even watch TV, let alone follow or play sport outside of school.

The final bell rang announcing the end of Thursday, and Riku made his way over to his locker, fumbling around with a few of his books as he opened it and shoved them in, extracting his school bag.

“Yo!” came a cheerful yell, as his blue-eyed companion rounded the corner and nearly smashed right into him, halting mere inches away from Riku. “What’s on the agenda tonight?”

Riku rolled his eyes and Sora grinned. They went through this charade most days, since they couldn’t actually spout on about their after school agendas to everyone else. Riku thought about his answer for a moment, checking his school bag’s contents before shutting the locker with a bang. “Might go home and watch some movies. I think I have popcorn in the cupboard.”

“Riku, do not tease me with popcorn,” said Sora, getting his own things out. “Of all the things to say, seriously.”

“We do have popcorn?” Riku said with a raised eyebrow. “Do you even pay attention when we do the shopping or what?”

Sora blinked a few times, before grinning sheepishly at his silver-haired friend. For good reason, Sora was not allowed within ten feet of the shopping list unless he had a genuine need, like razors or something. Riku honestly didn’t know why Sora bothered with the razors, since his facial hair was very sparse and grew sporadically, but he suspected the brunet shaved regularly in the hope it’d grow faster. Either that or he was using the razors somewhere else, but Riku had no intention of asking.

The two headed out of the school, beginning the walk toward Riku’s home, which was where the both of them lived.

Riku, to put it bluntly, was neglected. His parents worked jobs he didn’t even care enough to ask about anymore; something like CEO of a huge company and a movie star. Riku didn’t really care, honestly. They wired him through a personal allowance that was dependant on the state of their household, which they asked for photos of. The allowance was much too high, so Riku never spent it all, keeping it in a personal bank account for emergencies. As a result of the jobs they worked, they were never home. Riku had basically lived on his own since he was around twelve years old, and Sora had been living in a spare room since he was thirteen. Essentially, Riku was much less his parent’s son and more like a house-sitter. They rarely, if ever, inquired on their son’s behalf, and what they did ask was so pointless and ridiculous to the eighteen-year-old that he never bothered to answer properly. They hadn’t even called on his birthday, which was probably a good thing; he and Sora had gotten their hands on a variety of mixers and spent their night playing Mario Kart and drinking shots every time one of them fell off of Rainbow Road. The memory was one very dear to Riku, even if a big chunk of it was hazy after he’d had the Bowser shot- Thai bird chili and cinnamon candy infused bacardi 151, with a cinnamon sugar rim, which they had then _lit on fire._

It was a good night, let’s put it that way.

Once they’d rounded the corner and were out of earshot to the rest of the school body, Sora put his hands behind his head. “Ok, Riku, what’s actually on the agenda tonight?”

Riku bit his lip. The moment he said what they were doing that evening, Sora would become a glowering thunderstorm, and he really didn’t want to deal with it just yet. Most of today had been a good one mood-wise, and these kinds of streaks never lasted…but Riku was always trying to prolong them as long as he could.

“I’ll tell you once we get inside,” said Riku firmly, and Sora pouted a bit but said nothing. He knew better than to argue with Riku’s ‘firm’ tone. At least this way, the moment Sora’s bad mood kicked in at the news, he’d go change out of his shorts and put his nut-crunching skinnies on. Riku still didn’t understand why he wore them, though.

They came up to Riku’s house, a largish grey post-modern building- all sharp lines and straight edges, with a two car garage and double front doors. It was almost sterile, which suited the loveless place; the only rooms inside that didn’t follow the same pattern were the lounge (which had a few coloured bean bags) and the boy’s bedrooms, which had their personal possessions. Sora’s room was eternally a rainbow-black mess, since it didn’t matter what mood the kid was in, he loathed cleaning. Thankfully most of the house’s cleaning was automated, and what wasn’t Riku could pick up for. That said, he still made Sora do some of the household chores to earn his keep, but they weren’t your run-of-the-mill chores, so to speak.

Riku pulled out his keys and they headed inside, dumping their school bags at the front door and stripping out of their school jumpers. Sora exhaled, throwing himself onto the couch in the lounge room and putting his legs up on one of the arms.

“K, Riku. Spill.”

“Inventory,” Riku muttered, and Sora’s eyes immediately narrowed.

“Can’t you do that tomorrow night?” he asked, huffing a bit.

“He’s got a…friend coming over. One who’ll be staying awhile, and one we need to meet. Yes, I said we. Yes, you have to come. Yes, you have to refrain from punching things.”

Sora scowl, pushing himself up off the couch and storming upstairs to his bedroom. He spent a few seconds in there before thundering into the shower, clearly livid. Riku felt a small smile twitch up onto his lips, though he wished Sora wouldn’t react so badly to something that was such a core part of both their lives.

Riku headed upstairs to get changed; he wasn’t about to show up in his school uniform. When people see a school uniform, their first impression is ‘kid’ and that impression usually sticks. And he was not a kid in any way, shape or form.

Riku stepped up onto the landing and ignored the grumbled curse words streaming from the bathroom, heading into his own bedroom. It was medium sized, most of the furniture matching the rest of the house. However, the shelves were stacked full of memories and objects; an entire shelf sat gleaming with photo frames, most of them pictures of himself and Sora doing stupid shit. But that was the stuff that created the memories; you don’t plan or intend for things to happen, they just do.

Riku rifled through his wardrobe for some comfy jeans, a vest and a jacket. The weather was beginning to cool down, and he could always take the jacket off if he needed to. He threw on a few belts and slipped on a pair of comfy black sneakers, before checking his appearance in the mirror. Functional enough, with a hint of style. Good enough for meeting new people, he supposed. He liked to keep his fashionista nature a personal secret.

Riku walked out as the water in the bathroom shut off, Sora’s muttering now very clear. Riku rolled his eyes and headed back downstairs, grabbing his bag from out of the cupboard and equipping himself. Small knife on the side of each ankle, blade in the sheath underneath his jacket, small, makeshift bombs in his pockets. They weren’t really bombs, and would do zilch to an ordinary human being, but Riku had no intention of fighting ‘normal human beings’.

There was a loud bang as the bathroom door flew open and Sora walked out, still towelling his hair. He hadn’t bothered with a shirt and was only wearing a pair of black skinnies, a belt and some socks, clearly exposing his toned chest and the tattoo that adorned it. It was a series of words in a half circle pattern, starting from just underneath the middle of his left collar bone, and read ‘ _vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.’_ It essentially meant ‘everything is meaningless’ or so Sora had said. He wasn’t quite sure when Sora had gotten it; Riku fuzzily recalled a tattoo parlour at some stage but he had no idea how Sora had managed to tell the tattooist what he’d wanted. Sora was notorious for slurring his words while drunk, to the point you couldn’t physically understand him.

The brunet rubbed off the rest of the water in his hair, carefully drying each spike. Even while wet, his hair had a strange way of defying gravity; it was apparently genetic, since Sora’s father’s hair seemed to do the same thing. How, though, remained unexplained and unspoken. It was just a _thing._

“You intending to go out without a shirt?” Riku quipped, and Sora snorted.

“In your dreams,” he snapped in retort. “Are we going to pick up some food on the way there or will we wait until this bullshit’s over and done with?”

“On the way. Who knows how long this’ll take?”

“Ok. Chinese,” said Sora shortly, turning back to the stairwell. “I want peanut satay sticks, beef and black bean and fried rice.”

“Oi, it’s my money,” said Riku sharply, and Sora snorted again, spinning on his heel with a nasty smirk on his face, though anger was still playing in his surreal-blue eyes.

“I clean the blood out of our clothing. I get to pick what we eat.”

Riku rolled his eyes, pulling out his wallet and counting the notes as Sora headed upstairs to finish changing. He could just get his own meal anyway, it wasn’t like he and Sora had to eat the same thing. Riku wasn’t particularly fond of peanut satay or black bean, and Sora always hogged the fried rice, especially if it was ordered with extra prawn. Their city was a beach front town, so it was well-known for its seafood, and Riku and Sora had basically been brought up on it. Sora was big on the shellfish and the crustaceans- prawns, scallops, oysters, bugs, etc, while Riku preferred things like calamari (one of his personal favourite dishes was salt and pepper squid). Both of them enjoyed proper fish, though neither had the attention span to actually go out and catch it themselves. Sora was very fond of flounder, while Riku didn’t really have a preference. He didn’t know what kind of fish was in a Fillet-O-Fish, but he knew it tasted good, and that was the point.

After much deliberation, Riku mentally decided that he’d get some of the lemon chicken and sweet and sour pork, and an extra container of fried rice. They were better off if they didn’t share it.

Another five minutes passed, and Sora came sauntering down the stairs, wearing a pair of clunky biker boots, a grey and red wife beater that started red at the bottom and faded off, and a black leather jacket. He already had a cigarette in his mouth, but he knew better than to light up inside; Riku didn’t pay enough attention to his parent’s schedules to know when they’d randomly pop in, but he definitely didn’t want any kind of cigarette stink sticking to the furniture.

The brunet rifled through their equipment cupboard, equipping himself similarly to Riku. Neither risked bring their dedicated weapons, which consisted of one gun and one fairly large blade each. If they got pulled up by the cops, it took a hell of a lot of explaining, and neither felt like having to go through it. Reiterating ‘they’re props’ or ‘we’re performers’ got very old very quickly and both of them knew it. Thank god they had a contact in the police station.

“Oh, this is gonna be _great,”_ Sora hissed, as they walked out the front door and locked up. “So lookin’ forward to it. I’m fuckin’ ecstatic.”

“Don’t make me break out the salted butter caramels.”

“I’m way beyond salted butter caramels, Ri. Like, so fucking beyond it’s not funny. Why the fuck does he want me there?” Sora grumbled, the both of them heading to the car. Riku already had his license, and Sora’s license wasn’t for a four-wheeled vehicle. Riku hated riding on Sora’s motorbike, and the brunet teen knew well enough that Riku wouldn’t step within ten feet of the damn thing while Sora was in a bad mood. He drove like a drunk maniac on a good day. Bad days were what nightmares were made of. Riku was fairly certain he’d had at least three variations of nightmares involving riding a motorbike with Sora and all three had left him horribly mangled, waking up in cold sweat.

Riku exhaled, pulling open the driver’s side door as Sora lit up. Unlike the house, the car belonged to Riku, and it stunk of cigarettes. Sora always smoked on this drive, and he didn’t take a break from them either. He’d go through something like four in half an hour.

“Look, I can’t read his mind,” Riku stated as Sora slammed the passenger side shut and Riku started up the car. “Must have something to do with the new guy. You almost never come on inventory runs, so stop being such a prick.”

“Shove it up your ass,” Sora growled in retort, dragging lengthily on the cigarette before tapping out some of the ashes. They’d rolled out of the driveway now and were headed down the road, a path Riku knew all too well. Sora knew it too, and hated it, especially coming in this direction. The opposite direction, to Riku’s, spelt safety and friendship, while this way promised darkness and misery and that _idiot_.

“He might have some new stock in, you never know,” said Riku with a shrug, trying to find something positive for Sora to focus on. “And the new guy might not be a d-bag.”

“All hunters are fucking douchebags, Ri. _We_ are fucking douchebags and I’m not even supposed to be a hunter.”

“I’m hurt,” Riku drawled, feigning physical harm. “I can’t believe you called me of all people a douchebag. Me. Lovely, little ol’ me.”

“Can it, Riku,” snapped Sora, but there was a slight smile playing on his lips. Riku smiled slightly, before turning a corner in the direction of the chinese take-out.

“So Leon’s a douchebag too, then?” Riku inquired, and Sora rolled his eyes, extinguishing his now-finished cigarette and lighting up a second.

“A bit. Gotta be a douchebag to demand a name change. Takes one to know one, Ri.”

“You have a legitimate reason,” Riku retorted lightly. “We still don’t know what his actual name is.”

“Leon said it was a ‘thing’ and being named after a ‘thing’ wasn’t masculine enough. I guess ‘Leon’ is the epitome of manly.”

“I’ll never not associate the name Leon with Resident Evil, and he does have the emo haircut and babysitting down,” Riku stated, and Sora let out a loud, hollow laugh. If he was in a bad mood they always sounded like that, even if it was genuine. His good-mood laughter was almost girly, a spout of giggles almost. There was no evidence of that in the laughter currently coming out of the brunet’s mouth.

“I don’t agree with that manly thing, you know,” Riku said with a shrug. “Plenty of people are named after objects or things. At least he isn’t named something ridiculous like Chair, or Grass, or Cup, or Cloud…”

Sora snorted under his breath. “My name means sky, d-bag.”

“It’s translated. Doesn’t count,” said Riku, sounding authoritarian. Sora only responded by snorting again, except this time he inhaled too much cigarette smoke and started hacking and coughing loudly, puffs of grey coming out. It happened often enough that Riku didn’t even spare him a second glance, let alone attempt to help him.

They pulled up at the chinese take-out about ten minutes later, the both of them stepping out of the car. Sora put out his third cigarette, heading inside with Riku to make sure he ordered what he’d asked for.

The place had two sections- a dining hall and a take-out waiting room. The take-out section was a lot less flash than the dining area, which was all potted plants and sleek black carpet with fancy white table cloths. Meanwhile the little off-shot room had tiled floors and wallpaper made to imitate wooden panels, and neither of the two teens could fathom why someone would want that kind of wallpaper. It was a bit dingy, but the food smelt good, and the red plush waiting chairs weren’t uncomfortable.

Riku walked up to the window, checking his cash again to make sure he didn’t have to use his card. The cashier was a petite Asian woman with her black hair done up in a fishnet, her face clearly showing signs of age.

“How can I help you?” she asked in thickly accented English, and Riku made one final check of his order before nodding to himself.

“Can I get two large fried rice with extra prawn, one beef and black bean, one container of peanut satay sticks-“ Riku clearly heard Sora’s leather jacket shuffle, and he already knew his friend was grinning- “one lemon chicken and one sweet and sour pork.”

“The sweet and sour sauce comes with paopu fruit-“

“Only if it’s from the one fruit and the rest is thrown out,” Riku said firmly, “or you give the rest to me or something.”

“That’s fine,” said the lady, to Riku’s surprise. It must’ve been a common demand. Everyone knew about the ‘power of the paopu fruit’ and its ability to weave destinies. As someone who knew all-too well that sometimes the fictional was a little too real, Riku was not going to take his chances and have his destiny interwoven with someone he’d never even met and might not even _like_ paopu or chinese food.

The lady presented her price and Riku handed over cash, the two going to sit down on the waiting chairs. Sora let out a low chuckle.

“Ri, you could’ve just ordered something we both like instead of actually listening to me,” he said.

“Now why would I disrespect my laundry-man like that?” Riku quipped, feigning politeness. Sora scowled, but he knew it was a joke, more or less. They went quiet for the rest of the waiting time, the things either wanted to discuss not appropriate for public listening. Eventually the lady called out his order, handing over two steaming bags of food. The smells wafting from them were delicious; he hadn’t had chinese in a long while. Riku only ever picked up crappy snacks on these drives- usually a fillet-o-fish or some kind of wrap. He’d never tell Sora, since Sora hated these trips, but he loved having Sora’s company for the ride. The silence in the car was stifling while he was alone, especially on the way back. It was very raw, and very tense. Constantly reminding him of every single close call and near miss right up until he pulled up at the driveway.

They headed out to the car and put the food in the backseat, driving the rest of the distance to their destination. They parked down the block, fishing through the food and beginning to open it up, taking deep whiffs of freshly cooked rice and the delightful tang of sweet and sour sauce.

There was one bag Riku couldn’t identify, so he looked in it only to feel rather confused. It looked like half a star, with a leafy frill. Poking it revealed it to be firm but juicy, and it smelled very sweet.

“Sor, what’s this?” Riku asked, handing over the bag. Sora looked in it and burst out laughing.

“Riku, she actually gave you the friggin paopu fruit! That’s hilarious!”

“That’s an actual fruit?”

Sora snorted, highly amused. “You didn’t know? Paopu fruit are shaped like stars, man. Well, you know, the human interpretation of a star. The shape of a star is probably much closer to an orange.”

“But what about _starfruit?”_ Riku stated. “These are much closer to a star shape than a starfruit- you have to cut those to get a star.”

“Don’t ask me.”

Riku wrestled with the incongruity of it all for a few more minutes before dismissing it and beginning to eat. As usual, the food from the place was superb; the lemon chicken had just the right amount of tang and they’d remembered the extra prawn. He was careful about sampling the paopu in the sweet and sour, but he found the sweet yet tangy fruit complemented the sauce perfectly, and was great with the deep-fried pork balls.

The two ate mostly in silence, since the car got enough filth and grime through it without both of them trying to talk with their mouths full. They both ate like dump trucks, unfortunately for their shopping bill. It meant that providing either with a decent meal basically guaranteed silence, though Riku was usually polite enough to make conversation if he was in a friendly-dinner meal sort of situation. The silence wasn’t awkward or anything, they were both very used to it.

“Hrm,” said Sora, munching on one of the satay sticks. “We should’ve grabbed drinks. I could go for a soda right now.”

“You have a point,” said Riku, swallowing a mouthful of rice. “There’s a convenience store down the road?”

“Nah…I’ll just nick some lemonade from the old man’s fridge. He’s always got some,” said Sora with a shrug, though the scowl had returned. Riku exhaled, continuing to eat, not really paying much attention to what Sora was doing.

A few minute passed, and they’d mostly finished off their meals. He’d missed that chinese, and he’d missed coming on these runs with Sora, even if the brunet did loathe them with a passion.

He was happily enjoying his contented, full state right up until he realized Sora was eating something yellow and star-shaped.

“SORA, ARE YOU EATING THE PAOPU FRUIT?!” Riku shouted, almost jumping right out of his seat. The brunet gave him a wide eyed look, already half way through eating the yellow fruit.

“Oh my god,” Riku whispered, collapsing into his chair. “You do not understand what you just did.”

“We’re gonna be best friends for life anyway, so I didn’t think it’d matter?”

Riku sat up again, looking entirely serious as he pried the fruit from Sora, knowing the damage had already been done. “Sora. Destiny isn’t just this life, or this circumstance, or anything like that. Destiny is timeless and ever flowing. You eating that fruit means we are now tied together for ever and ever and into eternity. That doesn’t mean just this lifetime, Sora. That means past, and present, and future, and everything in-between. In every parallel and possible universe we are now bound to each other. This is more permanent and more solid than marriage or anything like that. Every single instance of our existence, and not necessarily in a good way. One universe might have us as enemies, one might have us as friends, one might have us in a different gender, or a different age- god damn, in one universe I might be a paedophile or something and you’re like, eight!”

“…I think you’re freaking out way too much, Riku. Just focus on our own circumstances!” said Sora, giving him a withering look. “It’s ridiculous to consider the amount of parallels, because we’re never gonna know, are we? Fuckhead.”

“Way to underplay the fact you just basically married me,” Riku grumbled, folding his arms and leaning in his chair. Sora rolled his eyes, picking the paopu fruit back up.

“Damage’s done, I’m gonna finish this thing. They’re pretty tasty, you know,” Sora said, smirking a bit as he ate the fruit. “Juicy, too.”

“Uh huh” Riku muttered, before checking his watch. It was nearly five’o’clock- the sun would be setting soon. “We’d better head down there in five or so minutes, he said the guy would be there at five.”

“Oh goodie,” muttered Sora sarcastically, finishing off the paopu fruit. “I can’t wait.”

Riku rolled his eyes and jumped out of the car, his brunet companion doing the same. Riku locked up the vehicle before putting his hands in his pockets and beginning the walk toward their destination.

The walk wasn’t far, and eventually they arrived at the building. It was a two storey shop, with an apartment up top and the sales area down below. The sign hanging above the door simply said 'ARMS', and the windows displayed a variety of modern and older weapon tech. A few signs were posted up on the inside; a notice about a missing dog, someone trying to sell their bike, and a larger poster saying that the store was going to have a sale pretty soon to get rid of older merchandise.

Sora was staring at the door with an unpleasant expression on his face. Although it made him look unapproachable and angry, Riku knew this particular expression, and it was the one Sora made when he’d give anything to not be where he was. His blue eyes glinted with pain and the desire to turn tail and flee. Riku exhaled, and reached out and put a reassuring hand on Sora’s shoulder.

“You’re a better person than he is,” Riku said quietly.

Sora bit his lip, before grimacing and nodding firmly. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

The taller boy gave him a half-smile and they stepped into the shop. Racks and rows of everything from guns to swords lined the walls, but Sora and Riku had spent enough time in the room to know exactly what it had; they were headed for the back room, which was to the side of the counter, the wooden door bearing a little sign stating ‘Staff Only’. They pushed through it to find it already occupied by two brunet males. One was seated, and had an unruly mess of spikes, his eyes completely fixed on whatever he was reading, not even looking up to acknowledge the two new occupants. The second male was a couple of years older than Sora and Riku- around early twenties- wearing a pair of black jeans, a white singlet and a leather jacket. His hair was a little bit shorter than Riku’s silver mane, and flicked upward a bit before travelling around the side of his head. He, too, had blue eyes, but his were darker and murkier than the intense pair both Sora and the seated man bore.

“Good to see you, Leon,” said Sora, giving the taller man a short wave, which he reciprocated.

“Hey. How are things?”

Sora shrugged, taking a seat at the conference table and immediately putting his shoes on it. Riku knew he was trying to get the other man’s attention, but he didn’t even look up. “They could be better. We’ve got a group of student teachers comin’ in soon, and you know what the newbies are like with preferred names.”

Leon nodded sympathetically as Riku walked further into the room and out of the doorway, knowing that they had one other guest still to arrive. If he was honest, he was anxious for them to get here; the tension in the room was stifling, and there was nothing he could do to ease it. Sora hated his father, his father didn’t care about Sora, and unless something drastic changed between them, that was how their relationship was going to stay. Riku glanced at the clock, which read 4:58- he and Sora had eaten dinner pretty early, but there was popcorn at home, after all.

The clock ticked by, the only sound being that of papers shuffling and Sora drumming his fingers on the table. Each tap of fingertip caused the older man’s eyebrow to twitch slightly, but he was obviously avoiding exploding just in case the guest walked in. Thank god for appearances; Riku knew the two weren’t beyond stooping to brawling, as terrible as that was.

The clock clicked by onto five ‘o’ clock and within three seconds the doorbell from outside tinkled. There were heavy footsteps, before a surprisingly delicate knock echoed through the room.

“Leon, can you get that?” asked Sora’s father, and the man nodded, heading over to the door and opening it.

In the doorway stood a blonde male who would be an inch shorter than Leon, if not for the unruly mass of blonde spikes jutting up from his head. They extended mostly upward rather than outward, like Sora’s, making the two styles fairly different. He had the same coloured eyes, an unnatural blue, somehow still intense despite the lack of pigment contrast. He was wearing a black turtleneck, the sleeves rolled up just above his elbow, with a pair of black jeans and brown construction boots. A bag was slung over his shoulder, which clanked ominously every time he moved. He looked a little anxious, his mouth pursed slightly as he surveyed the four men in the room.

“...I thought there were only three hunters?” was the first thing he said, his voice relatively quiet. Still, the tone held an air of someone who could lead if necessary; there was conviction in his cerulean eyes.

“Sora’s not a hunter. Come in, Cloud, take a seat,” said Sora’s father, standing up. The blonde walked in, still looking a little fidgety as he took a seat.

“Introductions are in order. This is my first pupil, Leon, the one who answered the door,” he said, gesturing to Leon. “The one with grey hair is Riku, I taught him almost in tandem with Leon, only a few years difference. Both are capable hunters in their own right.”

The blonde male glanced over to Sora, who gave him a dark smirk.

“Pops says I’m a nutter, so he won’t teach me,” he said, folding his arms. The other raised his eyebrows, while Sora’s father adopted a cold sneer, giving Sora a glare, but ignoring his comment.

“Everyone, this is my nephew, Cloud. He’ll be hunting with me for a time.”

Riku covered his mouth the moment he heard the name, resisting the urge to snort out loud. Sora’s face had twisted up oddly, and Riku could tell the brunet was resisting laughing too. Leon caught both the expressions, but given he had no idea why they were acting that way he said nothing, just giving them both a raised eyebrow.

“So he’s my cousin, right?” Sora asked.

“I really think you should’ve told me about Sora, Uncle Aris,” Cloud muttered.

“I must have forgotten. I know I made Riku drag him along to meet you, so I didn’t intend to hide him. I wouldn’t bother with him, though. The only person who can handle him is his babysitter, the one standing behind you.”

“Why don’t you shut your fucking trap and get on with it?” Sora hissed, his eyes narrowing.

Aris gritted his teeth, his expression nearly mirroring the one his son currently bore, before he let out a long sigh. “I wanted to get at least one more hunter into this region. I’ve gotten some fairly reliable intel saying a nest moved in within the last two weeks.”

“An entire nest?” Riku stated, walking over to the table so he could see everyone better. “Why haven’t we gotten wind of this before?”

“Simple,” Cloud murmured, placing his elbows on the table and folding his hands over each other, holding them in front of his face. “They’re not killing people.”

Aris nodded. “No deaths. Not one. Just the usual turn out of human-caused attacks and accidents, but nothing to indicate a vamp.”

“A nest with no attacks?” Leon murmured quietly, thinking to himself. “What about hospitals? Have they reported any blood thefts?”

Aris smirked, before nodding. “Massive. And there have been complaints of rose gardens being destroyed, all the buds being removed.”

“This city has a high concentration of blood rose plants, so it’s no surprise if there haven’t been any attacks,” said Riku, nodding to himself. “The question is why? It’s in a vampire’s nature to seek destruction and they’re not very good at resisting their urges, so why haven’t any slipped up?”

“Yes. It’s extremely suspect.”

“They’re recruiting,” said Cloud, leaning back and folding his arms, his eyes closed. “If they were laying low they wouldn’t have taken so many different sources of blood, but that’s clearly not the case. They must’ve turned to a town with a high population, small number of hunters, and large blood rose growth to breed up a new horde.”

“Damn,” hissed Riku. “It’s bad enough when they’re killing people and trying to kill us.”

“Yeah. Vampires love nothing more than turning hunters,” Leon muttered. “We’ll have to be extra careful.”

Aris nodded firmly. “And that’s why I wanted to make sure we’re all travelling in pairs in every hunt from now on. That way, if anything happens, there’s a failsafe.”

“Staking a friend. Pleasant,” Cloud muttered. “I can see why you had such a poor turn out.”

“That, and nobody likes him,” Sora snarked.

“If you’re going to be a little shit, you can leave,” Aris hissed, putting his hands down on the table.

“Going to kick me out again? I’m so scared,” Sora retorted sarcastically. “I’m totally still a skinny thirteen-year-old who couldn’t beat your skull in. Try it, old man.”

“Enough” Riku said sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The both of you. We have a very serious problem on our hands. Newborns means massive appetites. If the leader of the group doesn’t keep a tight leash on them, the death toll will rise very quickly. Not to mention that all of us are at an extreme risk in our own right. So can we please keep a steady head on our shoulders and not act like a pair of fucking teenagers? Thanks.”

The two brunets gave Riku a sharp stare, but it wasn’t the first time Riku was forced to step in between the two’s nasty bickering. It’d only gotten worse the older they both got; Aris was get crotchety, and Sora’s repertoire of cusses had expanded immensely.

“Alright. We need to avoid inciting conflict too much at this point. We’ll do our normal rounds, we just need to be hyper aware. They will be going for the bite, not the kill.”

Riku nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. “I need to do inventory before I go home. Is the meeting over?”

“Yeah. Take whatever you need.”

Sora and Cloud stood up, and they all shuffled out of the room. Riku went into the back storage room, Sora following close behind- though Cloud seemed to have also accompanied them.

“Can I help you?” Sora asked, raising an eyebrow, and Cloud smirked slightly, closing the door to the storage.

“I was mentored by a man named Angeal rather than my dad, who happens to have some connections, so I brought along some of his spare stock.”

The blonde shrugged the pack off his shoulder and opened it up, revealing several blades. One sort of resembled a scimitar, with the back edge formed in what looked like a bat’s wing and a dark purple-red colouration. There was a second, more traditional blade, made of cold grey steel with a bandage near the handle. Parts of the blade were notched out, and the red handle had a square-shaped guard around it. The third blade was buried a bit deeper in the pack, so neither boy could see it.

“Since your father’s being an ass, you can have the one intended for him,” said Cloud, patting the brunet’s mess of spikes. Sora’s eyes widened, looking at the blonde in absolute shock.

“Wh-wha? Dad told you I’m not a hunter though!” Sora said, keeping his voice down despite the exclamation. Riku raised his eyebrows slightly; Sora only called him ‘Dad’ in a good mood, so he must’ve just switched after what Cloud had said.

Maybe he’d be good to keep around.

“Sora, I know a hunter when I see one,” Cloud said slyly, smiling a bit. “Did you learn off Riku?”

Sora nodded, swallowing and rubbing his hair. “If my dad finds out he’ll flip. It’s why I hate coming here…there’s always a chance there’s blood still on me or I’ve forgotten something.”

“Between you and me, Uncle Aris is pretty dense,” murmured Cloud, shrugging. “Honestly, I’d rather he not use one of them- he’s the type to forgo the TLC and leave them subject to wear, tear and rust. So, so long as you two can promise to take care of them, I’ll give you these two and the third to Leon.”

“There’s a catch, isn’t there?” Riku asked, raising one silver eyebrow. Cloud smirked slightly, before turning his on his heel.

“The catch? Stop the bloodsuckers. That’s all I want,” he said quietly. “A man’s only as good as his equipment, you know. Dress for the part.”

Riku folded his arms as Cloud stepped back out of the room. Sora let out a low whistle.

“He’s intense. I like him,” he said cheerfully. “Well, we’d better get this inventory over and done with, eh?”

“Yeah. I need more anti-vamp bombs and ammo…we’re running low on medical supplies, too,” said Riku, thinking of the inventory check he’d done the night before. Sora immediately nodded and the two began rifling through the storage, packing up a set of supplies. Riku always took a little extra whenever he did inventory; he claimed spares, but the truth was that they were for Sora to use. As such the two were usually slightly undersupplied, in order to not raise Aris’s suspicions, but both were naturally talented fighters and they managed to scrape by. Truth was, neither boy knew what Aris would do if he found out Riku had taught Sora everything he’d learnt at the same time. Aris was far from an even-tempered man, and the circumstances in which Sora had been kicked out weren’t pleasant. Aris wasn’t really an accepting person. He had a long, long list of prejudices. This same sort of intolerance carried through to his hatred of vampires, and his inability to understand mental illness. Sora’s treated him like his ‘dark’ mood was Sora being possessed. Riku knew better than most that the thought was a load of crap, since at his core Sora was always the same person, but Aris wouldn’t listen to reason, not from the doctors, not from Riku, not from Sora himself. The last night Sora had lived in this place, Aris had attempted to exorcise him, and not gently, either. Riku had rescued him, and that was the same night Sora swore off his dark moods.

Riku shook off the memory, exhaling loudly and silently checking the items both he and Sora had grabbed before nodding.

“Alright, I think that’s it. Let’s head home.”

“Yeah. I think Cloud’s waiting until we’re at our car to give you that sword. It was pretty cool looking, actually. Like a bat wing.”

“I agree. Kinda dark for a vampire hunter to be using, but it’ll be easier to claim collectible with that kind of shape,” said Riku with a small chuckle. “Good thing we have such a good set of connections though.”

“Mhm. If Axel wasn’t at the police station you’d have been imprisoned years ago.”

Riku shuddered at the thought.

The two stepped out of the storage room, heading for the exit. They stepped outside to hear voices, and the two found Cloud and Leon chattinnear the doorway, Leon now holding what looked like a combined gun and pistol. Although his face was neutral, Sora and Riku knew the older man well enough to see when he was pleased; the near-permanent scowl on his features had eased up and his eyes were bright.

“You know how it works then?” Cloud asked, a hand on his hip. Leon let out a low chuckle.

“I trained with gunblades before I became Aris’s pupil. Circumstances,” said Leon, ending the sentence with an uncomfortable shrug. Nobody really liked talking about how they’d ended up in the supernatural business. If it wasn’t vamps, it was something worse. Vampires were just very common since they were easy to spot and their conversion process was very short. The world was full of other nasties, they just didn’t rear their ugly heads as often. Even then, Sora, Riku and Leon were content to let vampires slide by if they were keeping to themselves and managing their appetites. A vampire didn’t have to infect a victim, and vampires could survive solely on blood roses if necessary. The weird plant had a sort of ‘blood bag’ at the bottom of the rose, but the entire flower was food to a vampire. Nowhere near as satisfying as a proper “meal” to them, but for those who didn’t want to hurt others they had to suffice.

“Right,” said Cloud quietly. “Well, that’s good. I was worried when Angeal gave me that- I know they’re not easy to master.”

“Yeah, if you don’t know what you’re doing the recoil is hell,” Leon agreed with a nod. “But I feel more comfortable with a gunblade than a regular sword, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Can it shoot bullets?” Sora piped in, looking very curious. Cloud raised his eyebrows, before shaking his head.

“The gun part creates a shockwave through the blade, making cuts uneven and more damaging. You seem cheerful.”

“We’re heading home, I’m always cheerful on the way back,” Sora said with a grin. “Plus we’ve got popcorn!”

Leon chuckled a little at the grin, noticing Cloud’s slightly confused face. “Don’t worry, you get used to it. Where are you staying, Cloud?”

“Ah, Aris has a room,” Cloud said, fidgeting a bit. “I don’t really like the idea of staying here but I don’t have much of a choice.”

Leon folded his arms, thinking to himself for a few minutes, before exhaling. “If Aris gets to be too much of a handful, I do have a spare mattress or a couch…my house isn’t very big though.”

Cloud shook his head. “I don’t want to intrude. Plus you barely know me.”

“I think after we hunt with you a few times, it’ll be ok,” said Riku with a shrug. “I’d offer, but the only room I have spare is my parent’s- Sora already lives in the other room. I could shift around some stuff in one of the others, but…”

“Seriously, it’s ok,” said Cloud, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “Though I’m getting a little worried about Aris if you three are jumping at the opportunity to offer me a room.”

“He tried to exorcise me,” Sora said flatly.

“Oh” said Cloud, looking shocked. “…right. Ok. I’ll…think about it. I don’t think he’ll be too bad with me, though…my dad would be pretty pissed if that were the case.”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too bad,” said Leon, patting the blonde on the shoulder before turning and walking toward his car. “Remember to lock your door at night. Get out of the house if he starts drinking, too,” he added as he walked.

“…Sora, Riku,” Cloud said, watching Leon as he walked away. “If you were given the option between a hungry vampire and Aristotle, what would you pick?”

“Hungry vampire,” they said simultaneously.

Cloud’s shoulders sagged dramatically. “I was afraid of that.”

The blonde accompanied them on the walk to their car, where Riku & Leon loaded up their supplies. Cloud pulled out the blades from his pack, placing them in the back of Riku’s car.

“Ok,” said Cloud, indicating to the bat-wing one. Out in the open, Riku could see it also had a turquoise gem set in the hilt. “This one is called Soul Eater. Obviously, you strike with the back edge, but the wing tips are sharp as well; they’re used for gouging, handy with certain supernatural types.”

“I see,” said Riku with a nod, as Sora peered around from behind the taller two men. “What about my one?” he asked curiously.

“It’s called Fenrir. The blade’s embedded with silver, so it’s damaging to both vampires and werewolves, but the sword was designed for taking out the latter. Still, it’s just as effective on the children of the night. It’s more or less a traditional sword.”

“What do you use?” Sora asked. “Just wondering.”

Cloud smiled slightly, but there was pain in his eyes. “…A weapon called the Buster Sword. It was a friend’s…but he died.”

“…Vampire attack?” Riku asked quietly, and Cloud chuckled quietly as he shut the boot of Riku’s car.

“If only,” he murmured. “…Zack was shot to death. Shinra found out he was a werewolf.”

“You were friends with…?” Leon started, and Cloud nodded and continued before he could finish.

“He got turned about a year before he died. He was managing it pretty well, actually. Had some hiccups, but…well.”

The blonde shrugged, before giving them a short wave and walking back toward the shop. Sora and Riku looked at each other, wondering what it’d be like if one of them died at the hands of the people they trusted. Silently, they both agreed they never wanted it to end that way, as they headed back into their car and drove home without a single word spoken between them.


	2. Biology Lessons

Cloud ended up spending most of his Friday exploring his new surroundings. He knew that getting a feel for the environment was one of the most basic foundations for a hunt, and with the situation as it was Cloud didn’t want to take chances. He’d been on the butt-end of vampire recruitment before, and though he remained friends with the unfortunate souls who’d been swept up into it last time, Cloud didn’t want the same situation reoccurring. Because after a recruitment drive, _they_ showed up.

The hunting group known as _Shinra_. Spoken in whispers amongst the supernatural community, they were ruthless and unforgiving, and had no reprieve for the ‘harmless’ types; dhampirs, faeborn, no-one was safe. And if they couldn’t get this nest under control, Shinra would appear to clean up the mess, and would leave a string of corpses and blood in their wake.

Of course the group were a bunch of filthy hypocrites as well and it had earned them a lot of enemies. Cloud included. Back when Shinra had been a pinnacle of hunting ability to the blond, rather than a group to be feared and despised, there had been an extraordinarily talented hunter named Sephiroth whom he’d admired. However, the man disappeared when the truth came forward; Sephiroth was a faeborn raised by Shinra. The knowledge that he had the blood of the creatures he’d been raised to hate driven Sephiroth into madness and he’d burnt down some of Cloud’s hometown.

Then, of course, there was Zack’s death.

The memory made Cloud’s chest constrict painfully, and he quickly dismissed the thought, assessing the area he’d found himself in. It was a café strip somewhere downtown, shadowed by tall buildings.

Cloud walked through the street, thinking maybe he’d grab a coffee before heading back to Aris’s place, when he spotted a familiar curtain of brown hair.

Cloud’s eyebrow perked up, curious as to why the other hunter was this far into town, but then, Cloud had no idea where Leon lived. There was a strong possibility the other male just drove out to Aris’s place for inventory. He wouldn’t be surprised if the three other hunters lived as far as possible from Aris’s place, if their descriptions of the man were to be believed.

“Leon?” Cloud inquired curiously, and the brunet turned, looking surprised and caught off-guard. His stormy-blues looked wary, so Cloud gave him a reassuring smile.

“Didn’t expect to run into you…I’m not familiar with this city, so I was getting a feel for my surroundings.”

Some of the tension in Leon’s shoulders eased, and he gestured to the chair opposite him, taking a sip of what appeared to be a latte. Cloud obliged, sitting down and giving the quaint coffee shop a glance over. It was cosy, the coffee smell strong and flavoursome. There were only a couple of tables outside the shop, one of which was occupied by Leon, and another few inside. The lady working as the barista was a thin woman wearing half-moon spectacles, her blonde hair hanging into two long bangs alongside her face, the rest clipped up on the back of her head. Her blue eyes were a shade lighter than his own, reminding him a little of a frosty morning, but she gave him a smile that instantly warmed them up.

“That’s Quistis,” said Leon, noticing Cloud’s look. “She’s an old friend of mine.”

Cloud raised his eyebrows, before giving Quistis a smile of his own. She finished serving the man at her counter before sliding around it, walking up to their table.

“Oho, are you making friends, Leon?” she asked cheekily, and the brunet man exhaled.

“That’s none of your-“

“-Business,” she finished for him, grinning while her eyes glinted with mischief. Leon let out another long, exhausted sigh, and as he put his head in his hand.

“Did I say friend? I meant horse fly.”

The blonde woman laughed quietly, obviously used to Leon’s attitude, but the brunet seemed unamused. Quistis, however, was completely unfazed, turning to Cloud with a knowing smile.

“Are you a business friend? Leon never seems to meet anyone outside of it.”

“Yeah, he’s new,” Leon said quickly. “We’ve only talked a couple of times, mainly warned him about Aris.”

Cloud raised his eyebrows at the statement and how quickly he’d said it, and he caught the knowing nod from the female blonde. “So, what’s his name?”

“I’m Cloud,” the spiky-haired blonde introduced, offering his hand. Quistis shook it, her grip quite firm but revealing that she used moisturizer. “So you know about Leon’s job?”

“Leon doesn’t make many friends, so those he’s close to know a lot about him,” Quistis explained with a small smile. Leon rolled his eyes, propping his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand, developing an expression that could almost be called a pout. The man clearly wasn’t enjoying the attention, and the tense look from before had returned. Cloud couldn’t help but be curious, but he decided it would be in his best interests to not immediately put himself in Leon’s bad books. After all, the man knew how to use a gunblade, for pete’s sake.

“Well, I don’t know him well yet, I guess,” said Cloud with a shrug.

Quistis smiled a bit. “He’s a good guy when you do get to that stage. Don’t let his stoic persona fool you.”

“Quis-tis,” Leon growled under his breath. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

The blonde smiled brightly, spinning on her heel to face Cloud fully. “What can I get you, Cloud?”

“Oh, um…do you have barley tea?” he asked cautiously, and the blonde raised her eyebrows before nodding. “Ok, one barley tea and a sweet of your choice.”

Quistis smiled again at being given her own decision, before mentally jotting down the order. “One barley tea and a sweet. Coming right up. I’ll leave you two alone, shall I?”

She smirked slyly, before waltzing back into her shop.

“You drink barley tea?” Leon asked, raising his eyebrows.

Cloud fidgeted a bit, rubbing his hair. “Yeah…a friend of mine makes it. I like the taste, but she puts way too much sugar in it.”

Leon’s lips crept up a little bit, but his blue eyes glinted with a deeper smile hidden behind them. “I think I might know said friend.”

“Aerith Gainsborough?” Cloud said cautiously and Leon nodded.

“I do know a few members of your group…just not you, now that I think about it. Aerith is faeborn, correct?”

Cloud shrugged. “I’m not _entirely_ sure on that one. From what I’ve heard of her mother, she didn’t sound like the type to sleep around with a fae and then get knocked up by someone else. And I’ve never heard of faeborn occurring any other way.”

Leon raised his eyebrows at that statement, before nodding to himself, sipping his latte. “You’re right. Aerith talks of Ifalna like she was some kind of saint. There’s a possibility that Ifalna herself was faeborn and it passed onto Aerith. Or perhaps she’s simply a naturally talented mage. It’s rare to see such strong potency with healing magick, though.”

“Or any magick, really,” Cloud conceded, thinking about it. All humans had the potential to use magick, as did most supernatural creatures. For a human, they needed to find a life changing goal to tap into the ability, and it took years to master. Werewolves struggled with it, and normally didn’t bother. Vampires were innately able to use magick, but only the older type took the time to hone their abilities. Faeborn were the most magically potent; born from human women who still had the seed of a fae within them while copulating with a human, they could channel magick in ways others couldn’t even dream of.

Leon cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, drawing in a deep breath. “I don’t mean to pry, but-“

“I can use magick,” said Cloud with a short nod, already knowing what the question was going to be. Since goals were usually quite personal, and often had an element of pain, asking was considered a little bit impolite and invasive. “I haven’t learnt much, though…it’s only been a year since I gained the ability,” he admitted, before looking sheepish. “What about you?”

“Yeah. I don’t know much either, though. Aerith taught me a few basic healing spells and I know one for projectile fireballs, but that’s about it.”

The blonde raised his eyebrows, just as Quistis was coming back out with his barley tea and what looked like a blueberry scone. “The fire spell sounds handy.”

“Not easy to aim,” Leon admitted wryly, as the woman put his food down on the table, giving Leon a curious look.

“You two are getting along well,” she said, smiling a little. Leon shot her an annoyed look, but as with all of Leon’s warnings and nuances, she didn’t even acknowledge it. “I haven’t seen you talk this much to someone in a long while.”

“Cloud is actually pleasant company, unlike certain people,” Leon said snidely, sipping his coffee.  Quistis merely smiled at this and left the food on the table, returning to her post. Cloud took a cautious sip of the barley tea, noticing it wasn’t quite as good as Aerith’s, but it was alright all the same.

“I don’t drink barley tea unless Aerith gives it to me, and even then it’s rare,” Leon admitted. “The sugar gets on my nerves...I don’t react well to it.”

“Not a sweets fan?” Cloud asked, taking a bite out of his scone. Leon shrugged a bit, draining the rest of his latte.

“I can stand a bit of sugar here and there but I really don’t have a much of a sweet tooth. I don’t understand the appeal to be honest. I prefer bitter or salty foods.”

Leon grimaced lightly, looking a bit annoyed at something, before he leaned over the table, looking over to Quistis.

“Long black!” he called, and she gave him an eye-roll and started prepping the drink.

Cloud raised his eyebrows, looking at Leon from over the rim of his cup. “Latte not your usual, then?”

“I wanted something frothy, but mentioning bitter stuff made me want my usual,” Leon said, folding his arms. Cloud shrugged.

“Not judging you,” Cloud said dismissively, noticing how uptight Leon had gotten. However, the comment only served to make Leon tense up further, which caused the spiky-haired blonde’s eyebrow to quirk up again. He hadn’t noticed it the night before, but Leon was very defensive. Or perhaps it was the fact Cloud had run into him outside of a hunting situation. He certainly was a bit different to the heavy-handed, gruff man he’d met in Aris’s store. He’d firmly believed Leon was his elder by quite a few years at the time, but his nigh-childish behaviour was dismissing that thought.

“How old are you, Leon?” Cloud inquired, sipping his tea. The question seemed to surprise Leon enough that some of the tension in him eased, and he exhaled.

“I’m twenty,” the brunet admitted, and Cloud immediately choked on his tea, immediately putting the cup down and coughing loudly, knocking his fist against his chest to get the liquid to go down right.

“Jeez, are you alright?” Leon asked quickly, getting up and tapping Cloud on the back. The blonde gave him a sheepish smile as he recovered, rubbing his hair, and the brunet returned to his seat.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Your age just shocked me, that’s all,” Cloud said, waving his hand dismissively. Leon raised his eyebrows.

“Why? Sora and Riku are seventeen and eighteen respectively,” Leon muttered, and Cloud shrugged.

“I’m twenty-two,” Cloud replied. “When we met last night, I was sure you were mid-twenties.”

“Oh” said Leon, rubbing the back of his head, as Quistis came out with his long black coffee, having overheard their conversation.

“Leon’s always acted a bit mature for his age,” she said, and Leon gave her a disgruntled look as he sipped his coffee.

“I see,” said Cloud, as his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket. He pulled it out, reading the message quickly. It was from Aris; he wanted to talk to him about the night’s hunt, as well as get an update on his current activities. His brow furrowed a bit at the last part- Cloud was a grown man by anyone’s standards, he didn’t need to report his activities to anyone, even if they were his uncle.

In the end, though, Cloud texted him back saying he’d been exploring the city and bumped into Leon, and that’d he’d be home in an hour or so.

“Aris?” Leon inquired casually, sipping his coffee. Cloud gave him a wry smile.

“Yeah. Wanted to know where I was.”

“He’s checking that you’re not conspiring with vampires,” Leon said flatly, and Cloud raised his eyebrows, giving Leon a confused look, which the brunet seemed to understand perfectly. “Aris knows Sora, Riku and I are willing to let a vampire slide by if they’re not harming anyone. That man, however, is just as unforgiving as Shinra and then some. I’ve heard some stories. And they’re not pleasant.”

“Can I hear?” Cloud asked, and Leon froze, before exhaling.

“You probably already have, you know,” Leon said with a shrug. “Killed a vampire and her husband in cold blood. They hadn’t done anything to him, he just didn’t approve of their relationship. The husband was human, for the record.”

“…Oh. I think my dad did mention that one,” Cloud mumbled awkwardly. Leon nodded, before standing up, adjusting his jacket.

“I have to get ready for tonight, and you’d better head back to Aris,” Leon said, his tone icy. “Don’t trust that man, Cloud. Blood or not.”

The brunet gave him a shorthanded wave, taking his coffee with him as he disappeared around a corner. Quistis had given him a take-away cup; she seemed to have known that he was going to leave soon. Cloud watched the corner Leon had just disappeared around, grasping at the fragments of memory he had about that story. He couldn’t remember much of it, his father refused to talk about it these days since it was such a black stain against the family, and it’d been what…fifteen, sixteen years ago? He’d been a little kid at the time. But it’d devastated his father, the fact his brother had gone and done something like that. He and Cloud had never been close- the man kept distance from his family because of his job, and even once Cloud took up the occupation he was on errands most of the time- but Cloud distinctly remembered that night as being the first and last time he’d seen his father cry.

Cloud left some money on the table for Quistis, and he left to go find his bike, a beaten-up eighteenth birthday present. It was an older model of a Hardy Daytona, but for its age, Cloud had taken care of it very well. As he got on the bike, one name kept cropping up as he thought of that story of the vampire and her human husband, a name he couldn’t put a face to at all despite feeling like it was important. He couldn’t even remember the name itself.

*

As it turned out, one Uncle Aris did not take well to extended absences. When Cloud arrived back at the ARMS shop, the first thing he heard was a violent smash from upstairs. Cloud tensed, suddenly wishing he’d taken the Buster Sword with him, but it wouldn’t do to have the massive weapon with him all the time. Cloud was lucky he could even use the thing, carrying it around all the time would just give him headaches. And sore muscles.

Zack had used regular swords up until he’d been turned. Despite the blade being made of silver, the wrapping around the handle made the weapon perfect for the suddenly super-humanly strong male. Cloud, however, was of no such persuasion. He had told the truth when he’d informed Leon that he knew very little magick, but the first spells he learnt were ones to make heavy objects a bit lighter to use. Air and levitation spells, basically. It’d taken a long time to master the act of wielding the weapon effectively both for himself and to deal damage, but he was confident enough now to hunt with the weapon. It would, most likely, be an ongoing process.

Swallowing his trepidation, Cloud headed up to the medium-sized flat that sat above the ARMS store. It was tiny, only having two bedrooms, one of which was significantly smaller than the other. Aris occupied the larger room, which was obviously the master, so Cloud had set himself up in the smaller of the two rooms. The room wasn’t in great shape- it looked like the previous occupant had made a hell of a lot of fuss as he’d exited.

No wonder, if the previous inhabitant had been post-exorcism-attempt Sora.

The blond eased the front door open, finding it unlocked, only to have a near-miss with a flying dinner plate, which exploded against the building behind him into a waterfall of tinkling ceramic.

Peering inside, the damage was apparent; there was smashed crockery and glass everywhere, the furniture had been upturned, and Aris was holding what looked like more plates. His eyes were bloodshot and the room stank of alcohol; the man was drunk, that much was obvious.

“Where the hell have you been, fucktard?” he cursed, slurring his words as he threw another few plates, but the drunk man’s aim was off and Cloud dodged them easily.

“I told you,” the blonde said calmly, but underneath his stoic mask a part of him was freaking out. He was supposed to be living with this man? What the hell was his father thinking?

“Text tells me nothin’,” the man hissed, throwing the last plate. “I knew I shuldn’t a trusted yer fuckin’ bleedin’ heart fuckin’ father. Can’t jus go killin’ anybody ee says. Fuckin’ still ravin’ on at me about that fuckin’ vampire bitch slut and h’r dumb cunt blood slave.”

Cloud wasn’t sure where it had come from. One moment he was listening to the man rant on about his father and resolving not to pay attention to him, and the next he was stepping forward and swinging his fist with such force that he was sure the impact would bruise his hand. The punch had been at such an angle that the hit knocked the drunken man out cold. The man fell to the floor in a limp heap, leaving Cloud standing over him, his breath coming in short gasps.

Cloud swallowed, relaxing his posture and running a trembling hand through his hair, trying to process his thoughts. All he could amount it to was that maybe he’d ended up associating the rant with Zack. It was probably how the drunkard would’ve thought of the other man, if he’d known him after he’d been turned. And that genuinely pissed Cloud off, along with the fact the man had no respect for the dead whatsoever.

Exhaling, Cloud looked through Aris’s pockets to find the old man’s phone, which he hadn’t even bothered to put a passcode lock on. He found Leon’s number first, then Riku’s, tapping both of them into his own phone, but couldn’t find Sora’s, which Cloud found strange. Even if they hadn’t been talking, surely the man had Sora’s phone number, at least?

He drifted through the numbers, sighing when he couldn’t find anything relevant. There were only a few S’s anyway. Sally…Scrooge…Sebastian…Soritas…only the last one even came close.

Cloud sighed and dropped the phone, heading back outside, locking the door and calling Leon’s number as his footsteps echoed down the stairwell. It rang twice before he picked up.

“Who are you and how did you get this number?” he hissed.

“It’s Cloud,” the blonde said shortly, and a small ‘oh’ echoed from the other end of the line.

“…Last question’s still relevant.”

“Took it from Aris’s phone. He got drunk and attacked me so I punched him out,” Cloud said, shrugging despite the fact he knew Leon couldn’t see him.

“…Nice one,” said the brunet. “Guess that means he won’t be hunting tonight.”

“Nope. Don’t think he’d be sober enough to even if he did wake up,” Cloud replied flatly. “Wouldn’t want him too, either. Want to partner up for tonight?”

“Let’s just do the patrol in a group. I usually end up hunting with the other two anyway.”

“Afraid of being alone with me?” Cloud snarked, grinning mischievously as he headed into the ARMS shop to grab his sword. He heard the man on the other line splutter a bit at the suggestion.

“W-what’s that supposed to mean?” he grumbled.

“Aw, Leon, are you blushing?” Cloud teased, sure he’d get a snide remark in return, but all he got was another loud splutter and the line going dead. Cloud stared at the phone for a few minutes, before chuckling to himself. Somehow, Leon was _really_ easy to tease.

The blonde grabbed the Buster Sword from the back room, quietly murmuring a lightening enchantment on it as he strapped the weapon to his back. He grabbed a few supplies from the storeroom before heading outside. Deciding that this was most likely _not_ the place the other three met up to start hunts, Cloud decided to call someone else- that Riku kid.

The dial tone sounded about four times before he picked up, sounding a little cautious.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Riku, it’s Cloud,” the blonde said.

“Oh, hi. Did Aris give you my number?” he queried, sounding confused.

“Sort of” Cloud said wryly. “I was calling to ask where you meet up to start patrols.”

“Oh…aren’t you going with Aris?”

“Out of commission for tonight,” Cloud said simply, and the line went quiet for a moment. Cloud could’ve sworn he could _hear_ the eye roll.  

“Alright, we meet at…” Riku rattled off a familiar address, “do you know how to get there? Leon has a car, he could drive by and lead you there if you need it.”

“Nah, I’m alright,” said Cloud. “I know where it is. Half an hour?”

“Sounds about right. See you there.”

Riku hung up, and Cloud pocketed his phone, heading for his bike. Cloud pulled his goggles off the bike’s handles, slipping them over his eyes, before saddling the beast of a bike and starting it up, taking pleasure in the sound of the engine revving. He loved this thing, even if he did drool all over the latest models in the _Fenrir_ line.

He quickly drove up to the meeting spot, parking his bike off the corner in some secure parking he found. His eye immediately caught the very much out of place 1958 light blue Cadillac Coupe DeVille- what the hell was a car like that doing here? He stared at it for a few moments, as though the blue paint was going to reveal some kind of secret to him, but all it did was make him notice the toy chocobo figure hanging from the rear-view mirror.

Whoever owned that car had mighty fine taste.

Cloud headed back outside to find that Leon was already waiting at the spot, clad in black leathers and a white shirt, a set of red, crossed over belts overlapping his waist. His gunblade was strapped to his belt, and his arms were folded, his face set into a cold frown.

“Hey,” said Cloud, waving slightly, and the brunet’s eyes flicked in his direction for a second, before he shut his eyes and ignored him. Cloud folded his arms, giving the other man an annoyed stare. What was his problem, anyway? They’d gotten along just fine earlier while having coffee.

Well, he could be mad about the blushing comment, but this didn’t feel like anger. It was more like indifference, like Leon didn’t care if the blonde was with them or not. It gave Cloud a decisively cold feeling, one he didn’t like, one that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

The vibe Leon was giving off now, compared to the one from earlier, was completely different. This was a man focused, determined, prepared for the challenges ahead. This was the kind of hunter who didn’t muck around with formalities. Well, fine, if Leon was going to be that way, Cloud would match him. It wasn’t like Cloud didn’t have experience of his own; his father wouldn’t have sent him into the heart of a recruitment drive if he didn’t.

“Has there been any activity tonight?” Cloud asked, and Leon opened his eyes, shaking his head slowly.

“No. Not a peep. But something doesn’t feel right. I’m not sure what it is.”

Cloud nodded. There was something off about the air tonight, a strange sort of tension. Like Leon, Cloud had no idea what could be causing it, but he wasn’t about to let his guard down for a second.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the rumbling of an SUV, one Cloud recognized to be Riku’s, as it also parked in the secure parking. Cloud watched it roll down, before an idea popped into his head.

“Hey, is that 1958 Coupe DeVille yours?” he asked, and Leon blinked in surprise, giving the blonde a curious look.

“Yeah. My mentor gave it to me for my eighteenth” Leon said, raising an eyebrow. “Car enthusiast?”

“Kind of” Cloud admitted, thumbing his nose. “It was more Zack’s field. He was obsessed with one in particular- I think it was a 1968 or 9, Chevrolet Impala? SS, if I recall correctly. I’m more into bikes myself.”

Leon smiled slightly. “Your friend has good taste. The Impala’s a sexy car. The Eldorado Cadillac from the same year’s pretty nice too.”

Leon had a dreamy look on his face as he said it, obviously thinking of the cars. It amused Cloud a little bit; Leon had yet to express interest in anything up to this point. Cloud was enjoying the chance to learn about someone who attempted to be an enigma. So far, he wasn’t doing so well.

From behind them they heard a cheerful ‘Hoi!’ and the two teenagers ran up to them, both of them equipped with the blades Cloud had given them. Sora took the opportunity to gape widely at the sword on Cloud’s back, stunned by the size of it.

“Can you even lift that thing?!” he exclaimed. “You’re not a halfa or something, are you?”

“Nope,” said Cloud, lifting the blade off his back. “I just have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“Just because someone can wield a heavy weapon doesn’t mean they’re half-something,” Leon muttered darkly. “Have a bit more tact, Sora.”

The younger brunet gave him a sheepish grin, rubbing his mess of spikes. Riku exhaled.

“Sorry. He’s going to be a bit overexcited about Aris being ‘out of commission’” he explained. Cloud raised his eyebrows, before remembering he didn’t have Sora’s number. He pulled out his phone, making a new contact.

“Hey, can I grab your phone number? I got Leon’s and Riku’s from your father’s phone, but he didn’t have yours.”

“...Aris doesn’t have Sora’s number?” Leon asked in confusion. Cloud shrugged.

“There was no Sora in the phonebook.”

Sora took the phone and tapped in his number, before giving his own phone a call and handing the phone back. “There. One Sora, call me before midnight and your pizza is free,” he said cheerfully, thumbing his nose.

“Don’t feed him after midnight or get him wet though” Riku murmured, and Sora punched him in the shoulder. Cloud chuckled.

“Alright, we’d better move,” said Leon, taking charge as he stepped away from the wall he was leaning against. “Keep on your guard. There’s a bad vibe in the air.”

The two nodded, and Cloud also gave him a short nod. And with that, they were off.

The streets were mostly empty at this time of night, anyway; despite the fact vampires hadn’t been very active as of late, there had been times where they were, and most people did know of their existence. Even if the police and government did refuse to formally acknowledge them as real.

There was absolutely no sign of supernatural activity for the first four or so hours. They even ended up idly chatting among themselves, though it was mostly Sora asking Cloud various questions about his life prior to moving in with Aris. Cloud kind of appreciated his younger cousin’s enthusiasm, though his ability to flip between moods remained semi-unexplained and a little confusing. However, the blonde didn’t feel as though it was his place to pry into his life, so he decided to drop it.

They were rounding a corner somewhere in downtown when Leon stopped suddenly, his expression unreadable. He indicated for silence by pressing his finger to his lips, before gesturing in a certain direction. Not exactly sure what the brunet man had noticed, the group followed him anyway; Cloud might not know him all that well, but he was the guest in this hunting unit, not the other way around.

He stopped at the entrance of an alleyway, glancing inward for a few moments before cursing quietly and covering his mouth. His face had paled, and Cloud raised his eyebrows- this man was in the _wrong_ business to be feeling squeamish.

Leon had noticed the look Cloud was giving him, and his stormy blues narrowed in his direction. “You have a look and tell me whether or not you want to be sick, then give me that expression,” he hissed in a frustrated voice.

That did not bode well.

Cloud swallowed thickly, before stepping forward and peering into the alleyway. It was a bit dark, so he couldn’t see it clearly, but the smell of blood hung thickly in the air, so thick it was almost choking him. He hesitated for a moment, before pulling out his flashlight and flicking it on, aiming the beam toward the dark shape resting against the alleywall.

The blonde immediately span around, also covering his mouth. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Fuck!”

“Bad?” asked Riku, looking hesitant. Cloud nodded, forcing back bile and pointing the flashlight back into the alleyway.

The term ‘mutilated’ was an understatement. The former human- because it really couldn’t be called that now- had been torn to shreds, its skin ripped upward from the muscle, which was full of a variety of teeth marks. The ends of veins and arteries had been ripped from their positions inside the body, and were splayed outward; to do something like that, most of the joints had been split open, and a variety of organs were torn out and thrown around as well.

“What the hell?” Riku whispered.

“Desperate newborn,” Leon growled under his breath, his fingers lingering on the hilt of his gunblade. “Not a drop was left, but the whole alley smells of it. And if they were that desperate, this won’t be the first victim tonight.”

Seeming to possess a stomach of steel or something along those lines, Sora took the flashlight off of Cloud and peered around the alley, looking at the concrete and the objects carefully.

“They headed up this way, I think,” he said, indicating up the alley. “We’re going to have to go past this.”

“I’ll call it in quickly,” Leon said, dialling a number into his phone. He rattled off their position only before hanging up and turning into the alley, taking a deep breath.

“I know it’s bad, but it’s not the time to be getting squeamish” Cloud said quietly, and Leon exhaled.

“I’m not squeamish” he muttered, heading inward and stepping around the corpse, Cloud and Riku following suit. The blonde wanted to say something, anything, to make this feel more like an actual death, but he knew mourning over everyone who lost their lives to out of control supernatural creatures would break him faster than the vampire would’ve broken the poor person’s bones.

He drew in a deep breath at the thought, dismissing it as they came out of the alley. Both Leon and Sora were looking around, trying to get a bead on the vampire’s next direction.

“You’d think a vampire in this kind of state would be a bit more obvious,” Sora muttered in an annoyed voice.

“I’m pretty sure it went that way,” said Leon, indicating across from them. Sora looked at it for a few moments, before nodding.

“Right. K, that body’s still fresh, so weapons out the moment we get close,” Sora said, folding his arms. Leon nodded, and the four of them headed across the road, hands near the hilts of their swords. There was a scuttling sound, close by, maybe five or six metres, and before Cloud could even draw the buster sword, Leon had his gunblade in his hand, heading down the alleyway.

“Damn, the fuckhead’s playing hero again,” Sora muttered, drawing Fenrir and following suit. Cloud gave Riku and intensely confused look, and Riku responded with an apologetic smile.

“Would ‘bipolar’ be a good enough explanation for now?” he asked, pulling Soul Eater out of his sheath.

“I guess,” Cloud muttered, hand on the Buster Sword’s hilt as they followed the other two. However, there was no need; Leon was in the process of playing pong with the vampire, knocking it between the walls of the alley with speed Cloud never would’ve expected out of the man. Normally his movements were deliberate and obvious, here the vampire didn’t even have time to respond. The hunger had probably slowed down its reaction times, but even then, Leon would be a fair match to a well-fed vampire with how he was moving.

There was a loud _crack,_ the noise of the gunblade being discharged, and the vampire was smashed into the leftmost wall, the brick cracking beneath it as the figure slipped to the floor. The brunet male walked up to the vampire, sliding the gunblade into the vampire’s shoulder with a sickening squelching sound and the hiss of sizzling muscle. The creature shrieked, trying to get the weapon out, but it had already been worn down, the blade remaining firmly stuck inside the burning flesh.

“You’re not a full vampire,” Leon said firmly. Not a question- a statement. The vampire hissed at him. The three other members of the group kept their distance, knowing it was dangerous to go too close to a vampire in such a state, but they kept their weapons ready, prepared to back up Leon the moment he needed it. The creature’s eyes were glowing maniacal red, glaring at Leon with hatred.

Leon seemed unfazed by the vampire’s hiss, as he grabbed his hair with his left hand and yanked the vampire’s head sideward. Even from this position, Cloud and the others could clearly see the glowing, greenish drawing on the vampire’s neck.

“…What’s that?” Riku asked, looking at Leon.

“A mark,” Leon muttered. “Are you under orders?”

“Go to hell!” the vampire hissed, trying to get free.

The brunet smirked at the comment, but said nothing. “Don’t make me repeat myself” he murmured, twisting the gunblade a little, his finger playing on the trigger.

“No,” the vampire growled. “I’m not under orders.”

“So you slaughtered that person under your own whims?” he asked, his blue eyes cold.

“I-I didn’t want this!” the vampire shrieked, and Leon pulled the trigger, another violent bang echoing through the alley as the vampire screamed, shockwaves coursing through its body.

“Nobody chooses!” Leon growled. “No vampire, no werewolf, half or not! You make do. You keep your hunger regulated no matter what it takes. That-“

Leon pointed out of the alley in the direction of the corpse. “That is not how you fucking make a point of not wanting to be a vampire. That is the work of a monster. _You are a monster_.”

“I’m not!” the vampire howled. “I didn’t have a choice! I was so hungry!”

“You’re only a fucking Marked vampire, you piece of shit,” Leon hissed under his breath, his eyes glinting with fury. “You can go three fucking months without feeding before it starts getting bad, and there’s no way a pureblood’s been in town for that long. So no, you’re just a weak-willed son of a bitch who didn’t listen.”

“No…no, please. I didn’t…I didn’t want…” the vampire pleaded, still struggling, but compassion had completely left Leon’s eyes. The brunet put a firm foot on the vampire’s chest, triggering the gunblade one more time before removing it. Still trying to recover from the shockwaves, the brunet dug the blade right into the vampire’s chest, elicting a bone-chilling scream as the vampire’s figure crumped, falling limp against the stone of the alleyway.

Leon pulled out a cloth and wiped the blade clean, his expression still cold as he sheathed the weapon and pulled out his phone, sending a quick text before pocketing it.

“I guess that body really got to you, huh?” Sora asked, and Leon drew in a deep breath.

“He had no excuse,” the brunet muttered.

“How long have you been hunting vampires for?” Cloud asked curiously. “I’ve never seen a Marked, at least not before tonight.”

“Purebloods aren’t common,” Leon murmured, as they headed out of the alleyway. “So Marked are even rarer. Basically, they’re half-vampire slaves; they only transition part of the way instead of fully. They’re kind of a mid-point between dhampir and a half-breed.”

“You’re going to have to explain that particular dichotomy someday, ‘cause I didn’t think there was any difference between a dhampir and a half-breed,” Cloud said, folding his arms. Leon exhaled, shrugging a bit.

“Someday. I’m not in the mood for a biology lesson,” he muttered, looking a little annoyed. The blonde exhaled- he didn’t like Leon’s attitude one bit, and his mind was sounding a ‘caution’ alarm in regards to the man. Though, if he’d been working with Aris this long, the alarm was probably misplaced, but still...

The rest of the night was entirely quiet. Very few words passed between the four of them, the previous atmosphere completely killed by the sight of the vampire’s mutilated body- and partially by Leon’s anger. Around 6AM, the four of them headed back to their vehicles, as the sun began to peer over the horizon.

Leon left before Cloud could even speak to him, the man seemingly wrapped in his thoughts. The distinctive sound of an old engine sounded from the parking lot a few minutes later, and the Coupe DeVille rolled down the road, heading east.

The blonde inwardly scolded himself. Even if there wasn’t something ‘wrong’, that kind of behaviour from a hunter needed to be addressed. Getting overly emotional like that could easily lead to mistakes in the field. Not like Cloud could really say anything for his actions earlier in the night, but sometimes it didn’t click unless someone pointed it out. Well, maybe he could talk to Leon the next night.

“Cloud.”

The blonde turned to see Riku giving him a stern look, his arms folded. Sora had gone off with his and Riku’s weapons to get them packed up…but thinking about it, it probably would’ve been more convenient for the both of them to have just gone together. Which meant the silver-haired boy wanted something.

“Yeah?” Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell him we told you, let him tell you first,” Riku said, never breaking eye contact.

“What?” Cloud asked, also folding his arms.

“Leon. It was pretty clear you had no idea why he reacted to the vampire the way he did, so I’m telling you so you don’t end up pissing him off. So long as you can swear not to tell Aris.”

“…I don’t plan on telling that man what kind of underpants I wear, let alone anything I consider remotely important,” Cloud said flatly.

Riku raised his eyebrows, before he shrugged. “Just as long as you know his death would be on your hands if you did.”

Cloud’s eyes widened a bit. “What are you saying?”

“Leon is a dhampir, Cloud. He’s harmless in the vampiric sense, but he’s got his quirks. You need to know this if you’re going to be hunting with him, which is why I’m telling you now.”

Cloud rubbed his hand through his blonde locks. “That explains a lot,” he mumbled, trying to recall what he knew about dhampirs. At least, it clearly explained how Leon could endure the recoil from the gunblade. Firing at that range should’ve broken his wrist, but Leon seemed fine.

“So you won’t say anything?” Riku asked, and Cloud shook his head. Riku gave him a small smile.

“Guess we’d better head home,” Riku said with a shrug, and the two headed into the car park, where Sora had finished up the weapons packing and was gawking and Cloud’s Hardy Daytona. Cloud could almost see the teenager’s fingers itching to grab the handlebars.

“It’s really not all that impressive,” Cloud said, and Sora gave him an angry look that morphed into surprise when he saw the keys in Cloud’s hand.

“This is yours?” he asked, gesturing to the bike, and the blonde nodded.

“You should have more confidence in yourself, Cloud,” Sora stated. “It’s pretty clear this Hardy’s been through the ringer, but you’ve managed to put her back together nicely.”

“Yeah…she’s been good to me,” said Cloud affectionately, patting the bike’s seat, before yawning widely. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I think I need to go and sleep a bit.”

Sora seemed to have caught the yawning infection, as he stretched his arms out, rubbing his hair. “Mhmm, agreed. See ya later, Cloud.”

He and Riku got into their SUV and drove off, as Cloud mounted the Hardy Daytona, the engine whirring to life. He drove out of the car park and back in the direction of the ARMS store.

Honestly, Cloud was not looking forward to the reception he’d be getting back there. After all, he’d punched his Uncle clean out. Even if the old man had been ranting like a lunatic, it probably wasn’t the smartest move, and it could most definitely result in some trouble on his part.

The blonde sighed reluctantly, as he arrived back at the ARMS shop, the street quiet except for some disgruntled yells down the road at from the noise of his motorbike. There wasn’t much Cloud could do about that; Hardy Daytona’s had massive exhaust pipes.

The blonde parked the bike, swallowing hard as he dismounted and headed for the stairs leading to the apartment. There was a chance that Aris hadn’t woken up…but he doubted it. Despite his shortcomings and misdeeds Aris remained a hunter, and a good hit like Cloud’s would only keep a hunter under for so long. Aris had probably been hit like that more times than he could count.

The blonde found the front door was (still?) locked, so he gently slid his keys in, slipping inside the room. His nostrils were greeted by the smell of instant coffee and cleaning product, and a quick scene-sweep showed that Aris had tried to tidy up from his rampage the night before. The man in question was seated at a table in the middle of the room, sipping a cup of coffee, the spikes of his hair limp and painting a picture of man who clearly felt sorry for himself.

“Did you hunt with Riku and Leon?” Aris asked quietly, and Cloud nodded, going for the fridge to find some food. All-night hunts like the one he’d just engaged in did a number on one’s stomach, even though they’d brought silent snacks (chips were a big no-no). He found very little in the man’s fridge, but there was a bag of apples, so he took two, biting deeply into one to find it crunchy, thankfully.

“Sorry…about last night,” Aris muttered. “I didn’t realize how much I’d drunk. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s ok,” Cloud lied. In reality, he suspected this was a regular thing. That Aris got drunk and smashed plates at people, swore at them for sympathising with supernatural creatures. At this point, Cloud kind of did.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and chills coursed over him for a moment as he remembered what Riku had told him. _Leon is a dhampir._ Half-half. He should’ve caught it earlier, with how the man had reacted when Sora had asked Cloud if he was a ‘halfa’. No wonder he’d seemed so casual about it, though. Sora and Riku trusted Leon with their lives on a regular basis.

“Aris, do you know the difference between a dhampir and a half-breed?” Cloud asked, trying to make the question sound casual. “I thought they were the same thing?”

Aris raised his eyebrows, before pondering it for a moment. “Hrm…I’m not sure, unless they’re referring to that old legend…yeah, probably are. You know that some male vampires retain fertility, right? Well, there’s some who say if a vamp is bitten at a really young age or something along those lines, they go through puberty as a vamp. Which is insane, since the bite stops the aging process, but the idea is that their seed is fully vamped out, and their kids aren’t what we know as dhampirs, they’re called half-breeds. They’re proper vamps in every way, almost. They can bear the sun, and their weaknesses aren’t quite as bad. Plus they still feel emotion properly. But I’ve never seen one. Dhampirs are rare as hen’s teeth to begin with- who in their right mind would have sex with a vampire anyway?”

Cloud nodded, though he’d inwardly winced at the comment. “Could you tell them apart from a vampire, though? Provided they attacked at night, I guess.”

“…Rumour goes that half-breed blood is basically human. Dhampirs, you can smell it in there, but you can’t tell with a half-breed. But I don’t think they exist, Cloud. Unless you saw one?”

Cloud shook his head. “A friend of mine from back home mentioned them once, but he didn’t know much and nor did anyone else.” Great, he was already lying for the others. The situation was going swimmingly.

“Ah. Well, you know what vampire lore’s like. Some of it’s a load of bologna, some of it’s true. I think half-breeds are the former. Like I said, vamps don’t age once they’re bitten. Only dhampirs age.”

“I see,” said Cloud, polishing off the rest of his second apple and dumping the cores in the bin. “I think I might head off to sleep,” he said, and Aris nodded, sipping his coffee.

“Sleep well, Cloud,” he said. “Sorry again for last night.”

The blonde nodded, heading into the other bedroom. He gave Aris a glance from his doorway to see the brunet was watching him warily, and Cloud suspected he may have treaded on his toes a bit with the question- however, despite the lie, the question itself was completely genuine, even if it had brought more questions than answers.

Cloud shut the bedroom door, laying down on the bed. He’d brought his own sheets, so despite the thin mattress at least the duvet and the pillows smelt like home. He snuggled into them, his mind still abuzz.

Dhampirs. Marked. Half-Breeds.

Dhampirs, he knew, were mostly human. A bit stronger, a bit better with healing, and some had a bit of difficulty around the smell of blood. They didn’t have the ability to process it, though, so they didn’t need to drink it. Marked he knew nothing about, except they seemed mostly vampire from what he’d seen last night. Half-breed was apparently a step above that, with barely any difference between one and a fully-fledged vampire. Aris said they didn’t exist. Leon had acted as though their existence was complete and total fact. But the last thing he wanted was a repeat of the night before, where Leon had completely closed off and shut down any attempts to talk to him about anything, and he highly suspected that’d be what would happen if he asked about Marked or half-breeds.

Then again, Marked seemed relevant to the current situation. Leon had called them ‘half-vampire slaves’ to pureblood vampires, another type Cloud knew next-to-nothing about.

The blond groaned, burrowing himself deeper in the warm sheets, trying to get his brain to shut down. If Leon knew so much, he’d pick up the pieces eventually.

Had Leon’s vampire parent told him about vampires?

Cloud silently and repeatedly willed his brain to shut up. He did not need to be thinking about the vampire equivalent of a history lesson. He couldn’t even imagine Leon as a little kid. He was one of those people who you believed had been an adult their whole lives, and attempting to imagine them as small children was nigh impossible.

Eventually, Cloud’s brain got the hint, and nursed him into an uneasy sleep full of staring red eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to quickly post this before bed, but my computer decided to first forget that word existed for half an hour, then open 30 instances of it. Nice. 
> 
> despite this, here is the chapter. my writing starts to improve about chapter 4-5 onward, so editing will pick up in pace.

**Author's Note:**

> In case this is familiar, this is a repost of the same fic from FF.net, slightly cleaned up and editted since it's now edging on four years since I completed it. The reason I'm reposting it is because I've actually started working on the sequel called Contrast: Checkerboard. It literally can't be read without reading the original work first, so. Here it is.
> 
> This is a completed fic of about 14 long chapters, so look forward to it.


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